Kevin Harvick won’t confirm that he will drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, but he did confirm last week in Las Vegas that he is preparing for his departure from Richard Childress Racing after next season.

Harvick said he already has talked to Matt Kenseth about how to handle such a situation — Harvick is expected to run his final season for RCR next year, and all signs point to him driving for Tony Stewart beginning in 2014.

Kenseth announced in June that he would leave Roush Fenway Racing for Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2012 season. Kenseth still made the Chase for the Sprint Cup this year and won two races during the Chase.

Harvick has not announced that he will leave RCR — the only team he has ever driven for as he was thrust into the national spotlight as the replacement for Dale Earnhardt Sr. following Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500. But Harvick has not denied reports that he will move to Stewart’s team starting in 2014, and team owner Richard Childress has already acknowledged that Harvick will be moving on.

“You look at a lot of situations that are around you that you can kind of take advice from people and things and just try to do the best that you can,” Harvick said at the Sprint Cup Awards banquet in Las Vegas last week.

“Everybody wants to know what’s going on or what’s going to happen or how it is going to work and we want to tell everybody, … but we’re just not in a position.

“With a lot of the uncertainty, Matt has handled his situation very well. I have definitely talked to Matt.”

In October 2009, Harvick said he likely would leave RCR but after a strong start to the 2010 season, signed a three-year deal.

That made Harvick appear as if he was trying to manipulate the situation. There doesn’t appear to be any manipulation this time as a decision already has been made.

“In these types of years, you look back at some of the situations we have been in before and we didn’t handle them very well and it was kind of embarrassing,” Harvick said.

“Those are just situations as a person I don’t want to be in again.”

Harvick, who turns 37 this week, appears that he might be able to handle this situation better. The weekend that news of his pending departure broke, Harvick ended up winning the race at Phoenix, the only Sprint Cup victory for RCR all season. Harvick was the only RCR driver to make the Chase, and he finished eighth in the standings.

Harvick says he expects to have Gil Martin back as his crew chief at RCR next year. Martin took over the No. 29 team in August, less than nine months after Harvick pretty much fired him by asking Childress for a new crew chief for 2012, despite back-to-back third-place finishes in the standings.

“We’re going to focus on ’13 and do the things that we have to do to make the race team as good as possible and go from there,” Harvick said.

Harvick said he has tried to stay away from rumors and speculation about when he will announce his 2014 ride.

“I really tried to detach myself from reading media stories and wearing myself out about things that I’m not in charge of and just trying to make myself just a little bit more relaxed so that the situations don’t eat you up,” Harvick said.

“You know what the situations are and there’s no reason to make it worse on myself.”

With 19 career victories and 12 years in Cup at RCR, Harvick will try to have a solid season among some of the worst of circumstances.

“It will probably be the best season we’ve ever had, to be honest with you,” Harvick said. “There is a lot of effort that has gone into the new car. We’re going out and racing as hard as we can and we’re going to do everything we can do to win races and win championships. That’s just what we do.”